Opinion articles

April was a milestone month, not one of celebration but of remembrance. Forty-three years ago last month is considered the start of the country’s civil war that drove many Lebanese to emigrate, displaced others, and killed many more, in addition to the 17,000 who cannot be accounted for. Beside the human toll, the civil war…

Watching the fifth masquerade of national elections since my return to Lebanon, I cannot help but recall Amin Maalouf’s masterpiece, “The Rock of Tanios.” In Maalouf’s tale there is an Ottoman sheikh of a mountain village who collects taxes and recruits the able to fight the empire’s wars. In return for his allegiance to the…

As evidenced by recent surveys and public polls, Lebanese are disenchanted with their overall tax system and consider their obligation to pay taxes a burden. But they are decrying the many defects of their tax system without even understanding it. According to a national survey conducted in 2012 by the Institut des Finances Basil Fuleihan…

This month, Lebanon will send a delegation of state officials to Paris to pitch an infrastructure development program dubbed the Capital Investment Plan (CIP) to the international community and private investors. Alongside the CIP officials will also unveil an economic vision, fiscal discipline measures, and structural and sectoral reforms. Of the four, Executive has only…

On March 27, before addressing an auditorium filled with our best scholars, academics, researchers, journalists, intellectuals, and experts who have dedicated their lives for this nation, I asked if any of them was granted access to or had seen or even touched one page of the Capital Investment Plan (CIP) CEDRE project—the answer was a…

Beirut is depicted as a woman by many renowned artists, like Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali, who—during the 1982 Israeli invasion—drew a caricature of his iconic character Handala offering a flower through a hole in the wall to a woman that he named Beirut. She is the patient carrier of our painful history, she is the…

Lebanon’s election season has begun. With it comes hatred, spite, segregation, animosity, and the most vicious deception imaginable. Desperate to sway votes in their favor, our narrow-minded politicians have one strategy in their playbook: isolate and manipulate. Playing on ignorance and fear, they further divide our already fraught communities. Last month we witnessed just how…

While 2017 began with promises that Lebanon was entering a new era, the year ended with proof that our political culture has not advanced a millimeter in hundreds of years. This land is still ruled through entitlements. Wannabe regional supreme leaders choose our politicians, and in return, they demand veneration and tribute from appointees. We’re…

Lebanon is once again staring down a waste management crisis, with news that the Costa Brava and Bourj Hammoud landfills will reach capacity in 2018—two years before the government’s initial estimate of 2020. In response, the cabinet is reportedly considering a proposal to reopen the infamous Naameh landfill, whose closure in 2015 sparked a crisis…

Their crimes must not be forgiven again. For 11 years, Lebanese politicians spent some $130 billion without an audit. To pass the 2017 budget, our lawmakers defied the constitution by promising the audit will come next year instead of now. I’m not holding my breath. Let’s not lie to ourselves: Audits can be manipulated. We…